Have you noticed a sharp decline in people's ability/willingness to provide quality customer service?

I worked retail for nine years. I worked in a mom-and-pop shop that sold men's clothing, I worked at Sears selling lawn mowers, I worked at Best Buy selling TVs, and I wrapped-up my retail career at GameStop selling... well, I suppose you know.

I'm sure that there were times during that period where I could have provided a more quality customer experience. However, I also offered enough of a quality experience the majority of the time to create a small following of people who would come to me for advice or to buy something. I had people follow me from Sears to Best Buy and then even to GameStop. I guess that they thought that I was a straight-shooter and that I could give them advice concerning what they were looking for and how best to get it.

Hell, while typing this I received an errant call from someone seeking another person in my office. By the end of the conversation she thanked me multiple times for my help and she said that she really appreciated that I was informative.

It's not hard, folks.

So when I go out of my way to call and confirm a haircut three hours before it's scheduled to happen (to make sure that my stylist is there due to the weather) and she says that she will call me back prior to my appointment, I believe her. I suppose that was my mistake, I mean after-all: she has many more customers than just me. I'm probably being selfish when I get slightly disgruntled because it's thirty minutes past my appointment and I've heard nothing.

Tough. It is a long lost art, keeping one's word. The fact of the matter is this: had she told me that she had no idea what would happen and that I should try to call back later, I would have done just that and been fine. However, she went out of her way to give me her word that she would call me. Then she didn't.

Doctor's offices are the worst.

Think of how much money is floating around the health care industry. Tons. So when you make an appointment (often for six months out of the sudden illness that you've contracted) you expect it to be honored. Usually though, you sit waiting in a room for fifteen, thirty, forty minutes past your appointment time while the clinic will cancel if you are late five minutes.

Last month my wife had a dentist appointment. They are only open on Fridays.

"Woah, tough luck, Kenney! You should pick a different dentist then!" No, my insurance only covers a few in town and this one is the only one with a good reputation.

So, anyway, my wife gets called the morning of her appointment by the staff to ask if she would like to take an earlier time. She says she would but that she might be a few minutes late due to another doctor's appointment earlier that day. The staff member says that it will be fine if she is a few minutes late.

My wife wraps-up her earlier appointment late (because it's a doctor's office and they are never on time...) and heads-over to the dentist.

When she arrives she is told that she lost her appointment because she was eight minutes late. So my wife asks about her original appointment. That was given away to another patient. She is now forced to take my appointment a month down the road or wait longer.

She takes my appointment.

That day was today. They called her yesterday and told her that they would be closed today, due to bad weather, and that she needed to call back next Friday so that they could get her another appointment.

What?

So we are now two months late because of several scheduling blunders on their part and now my wife has to call them so that they can get her in.

Who's paying who here?

While this little rant has gone on quite a bit, it has not nearly covered all of the terrible customer service I've experienced since returning from South Korea in May of last year.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have felt good about the experience that I received since being back. I'm really not that hard to please, since I worked in customer service for so long. I understand how hard it can be.

That being said, if you don't like what you're doing do something else.

Is it hard? Sometimes. Trust me: I moved to South Korea to get away from retail. When that got stale, I came back and found something new. It's not difficult, people, it just takes a little work.